A little catching up...

So...Life is good. Its busy, but good. Our three babies are growing and changing everyday. And we are enjoying every minute of watching them. My days are spent loving on & caring for these sweethearts. As I watch them change daily, hear them say new things or try new things it makes me realize just how important it is to write down all these precious memories. In 10 or 15 years I want to be able to look back and remember these sweet tidbits about my babies.

Will is 5 and will be turning 6 in August. He is finishing up his last year of preschool and will be starting kindergarten next school year. He is very smart & can figure out all sorts of problems. He is starting to learn to read and knows 5-10 sight words. We are taking it slow. Will is the type of kid who will do something well only when he is interested. Take baseball. He LOVES it. In fact he asks us to take him outside to throw constantly. Will is a cautious kid. He plays it safe until he has had the chance to observe and thinks he can do it. But, the ball field is a different story. He is so confident out there. I love to watch him play! He made the all-star team for our area and Mike is going to coach. I can't wait to see how this additional chance to play changes Will. We have seen him grow as a player since February & this opportunity will only make him better.

Luke is 3 and will be turning 3 in July. He is finishing up his 1st year of preschool. He loves school and loves learning. He loves to play his iPad and he is constantly watching ABC movies or playing games with numbers or letters. I think he will read early simply because he wants to. His favorite books are I Spy or Go Dog Go. In fact he is sitting with Will and I when we go over sight words and he has already picked up a few. Luke is fearless. He will try just about anything and will love it!! Luke is fun-loving. With him everything is a blast. He is also super sensitive, just like his mama, so we have to tread lightly with him at times. Luke is playing ball now and he LOVES it too. And I love watching him! In fact, he gets upset when Will has games and he doesn't. Our boys are both competitive!!  

   

Wynn is 11 months and will be a year old next month. That little girl makes us smile daily! She is crawling all over the place. Not sure if she is interested in walking. Evidently, she crawls fast, just like I did. She seems happy and content to get around like she is. She is eating all kinds of solids and loves eating. She is constantly reaching for anything we eat or drink. Wynn is a squealer. She will squeal when she is happy, which is most of the time. Or she will let out a piercing squeal when she is hungry or upset. She loves to be outside and loves to get to places where she should not be. She likes to get into the dog food &; loves to hold onto the dog leashes. In fact sometimes she will cry when she sees me take the dogs out for a walk without her. She loves to eat baby goldfish, graham crackers, ritz crackers, spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, peas & green beans. And honestly, I could go on. Let's just say she is a good eater!

 

 As far as Mike and I go, we are good. Mike got a job and started last week. Our house in Georgia rented. For our family that was two huge prayers answered. I am still home and happy to be taking care of our kids. We are blessed and thankful to God. Life is good!

 

 

Fesslers at the ball field

Last spring, our family was introduced to the world of youth sports when Will decided to play soccer. He loved it, we knew nothing about it and Luke was dying to play. But, at the end of the day it was fun for our family.

This year, we are going a different route, and one that we know well, and playing baseball. Mike took the boys about a month and a half ago to sign Will up to play this spring. What we did not expect was that Luke would be old enough at 3 to play as well. So, Mike came home with 2 little boys ready to play.

Fast forward to now...Will has played 3 games and Luke has had 1. Last Saturday we had a game at 9 and then again at 11:30. Spending the morning at the ball field felt good and right and well, like we have come home.

This year we are having fun, but Mike and I both are having a hard time just sitting and watching. Which can only mean one thing...coaching is in our future!!

Luke before his first game.

Luke's first at bat

Wynn in her cute baseball shirt cheering her brothers on!

Will before his first game. 

The first night the boys had to wear any shirt with a number on the back.  By the second game , they got their game jerseys. Will got his Daddy's # 22. He was thrilled!!

Snow much fun!!

We are officially in Chattanooga, TN. We got here two weeks ago. Everything has happened so fast that I don't feel like we were able to process leaving Charleston and our life for the past 4 years there.  Since landing in Tennessee, we have been living with my parents while Mike job hunts. Once he gets a job, the plan is to find a home of our own and start building a life here.

In these two weeks, Mike has celebrated a birthday, we have enrolled both boys in school & enjoyed our first real snow day with the boys & Wynn. Will had seen snow before. We got a little when we first moved to Charleston. He was 16 months old & it was very bizarre! Luke had never been in actual snow,  just a little bit of ice from a few weeks ago.

This time we got about 6 inches of snow. The boys loved it! We bought them a sled a few days ago hoping that we would get snow. Boy, did it come in handy!!! The boys, and even Wynn, had so much fun going down the hills on the golf course where my parents live and down their back yard. Mike and I had fun too. I felt like a big kid; it's been a long time since I have been on a sled!!

All of the pictures from below are from Wednesday afternoon. After we came in to warm up, mores snow fell until we ended up with about 5-6 inches. Unfortunately, the snow is already starting to melt. It was fun while it lasted, however, putting on that many layers & taking them off again, was no fun. Not sure how they do it up north...

Wynn update X 4

The last time I updated on Wynn was 5 months ago! Geez! Call me a slacker!!

Well obviously, she has changed a lot. Here are the highlights...



5 months:
*Wynn's first Halloween
*she started crawling, well "worming" would be more like it. Anyways she became mobile. Watch out world!!
*this girl has tons of personality! She is always smiling and even will giggle!!
*she is not eating solids quiet yet, but she will be soon
*she is sleeping with mommy & daddy
*she wears a size 2 diapers and size 3-6 in clothes



6 months:
*she is up on her knees, but still worming around
*she is finally interested in baby food. One day she wasn't and the next she was! It was like all of a sudden we had opened this whole new world to her!!
*Wynn's first Thanksgiving
*she still is all smiles & loves her brothers
*she loves her mommy & will scream if I hand her off to someone else



7 months:
* Wynn is crawling!! And she is all over the place!!
* Wynn has 2 teeth, she got them for Christmas!!:)
* Wynn celebrated her first Christmas
* she loved the Christmas tree and constantly was pulling at it
* she loved the presents & must have pulled off every bow I put on!!
* she started eating puffs and drinking from a trainer cup...she thinks she is big stuff
* she says dadadadadada



8 months:
* Wynn is all over place! She loves crawling!!
* Wynn is waving
* she still says dada with an occasional mama
* she is starting to eat table food, which she loves
* she learned to climb stairs...Yikes!!!
* she still sleeps with mommy & daddy
* she still wears a size 2 diaper, but is now in 9 month clothes
* her smile & laugh will light up the room!

That brings us to now. She just turned 9 months on Tuesday. Hard to believe just how fast she is growing up!

Christmas 2013

The Christmas Season has always been busy for us. Since moving to Charleston, we have been apart of a Christmas outreach called LoveGave. Its all consuming for us because Mike has essentially runs it. 58 hours straight, the first weekend of December. Its exhausting and takes us about a week to really catch up on sleep and rest once its done. So, usually Christmas Eve and Day feel a little rushed or we can't believe its already that time because we didn't get to enjoy it. 

With that being said, this Christmas was one of our best. All 3 of our babies had a blast which made things that much more fun for Mike and I. This year the boys were very interested in how Santa Claus tied in with baby Jesus. We did our best to answer those questions without Santa losing any of his Christmas Magic. We also did a nightly Christmas devotion that explained more to us about the Christmas story. We baked, a lot, and we learned the words to "Away in a Manger", our new favorite Christmas song. All of that, plus new toys and a whole week with family. We could not have asked for anything better!

Christmas Eve...the 1st present of Christmas!

jammin

sing it Will!

2 sweet boys

our annual Christmas Eve couple shot thanks to Will

little Miss Wynn

best attempt at all 3

ready for Santa

He Came!!!!

Waiting at the top of the steps to go see what Santa left for them

Spiderman house

tunnel for the train set

and Wynn trying to figure out what was going on!

My thoughts...

Its Sunday afternoon and the house is quiet. Will is having a goodbye play date with a friend from church, Luke is with Mike doing some daddy son quality time and Wynn is here with me, napping. Its funny how the stillness of everything gives you time to just think and reflect on things.

So, what's on my mind? What do I, Whitney, have to say?

Well, first I am humbled. Today marked the 4th year anniversary of River Church. This church has been our life for the past 4 years. We have given so much of our heart and soul, time and effort to this church. And now its time to go. Its gonna be hard. We were blessed with having members of our community group share with our church body about us during the service today. I was blown away and humbled by what these sweet people said about us. When someone says that they look up to you or you have inspired them, its a little weird. I mean we are just living our life, I didn't realize people were watching and watching as closely as they were. I'm honored and I'll say it again, humbled.

Second, I'm scared and excited all in one, but more excited. I'm scared of the unknown, even though it excites me at the same time(honestly who isn't?). This time next week, we will be in Chattanooga. We will be watching the Super Bowl at my parents' house. My boys will be preparing to start a new preschool and we will be preparing to start a new life. Where we will go to church, where will we live, who will become our close friends that we will do life with?

Third, I'm overwhelmed. I am looking around the house and see lots of stuff. Mostly, it just needs to be picked up and put in a proper spot or box. But, it needs to be done so quickly. We pack the truck on Thursday night. Thats 4 days away. Mike has an interview on Tuesday in Gainesville, GA and we have several goodbye playdates with friends. OMG!!! We can get this all done right????

Ok, well, that's me. My ramblings. My brain poured out. I hope in a year I will look back on this post and smile. Remembering exactly how I felt at this moment and amazed at how God has moved on our behalf as we step out in faith to follow him again.

So, much to say...

Its been 2 months since I have posted anything. I have an excuse. A really good one this time. Basically, we are moving. Not just moving to a new house kind of moving. Moving to a whole new city kind of moving. We made the decision back in the summer, but had no definite time line. So after much prayer and God closing and opening certain doors, we narrowed things down and decided the end of January was the right time to go. Its kind of been an all consuming thing to think about. Add to  that the fact that last month our family was heavily involved in LoveGave (www.lovegave.com) and then we celebrated Christmas and then we started packing and whew! I'm exhausted and the last thing I've wanted to do is blog.

So, where are we moving? Chattanooga, TN. My hometown. We will start off living with my parent's as we get our bearings and Mike lands a job. There are still lots of unknowns. But we have peace. We know God is calling us to a new town and a new life. And we are excited! Especially since it means we  will be close to family!

So, please forgive me for not posting! More posts and updates are coming real soon. In between packing boxes...